"Nowhere in the (IHT) article is there any hint of the conflict of interest that the appointment of Joe Raslton as the American PKK coordinator creates. There is no mention of Joe Ralston as a member of the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin, of his vice-chairmanship with a private lobby firm, The Cohen Group (to which Lockheed Martin paid $550,000 in 2005 for services rendered), nor is there any mention of Joe Ralston's position on the 2006 Board of Advisors for the American Turkish Council (ATC).

Remember, the ATC is Turkey's premier lobby group in the US and has previously been the subject of FBI counter-intelligence investigations.

...This conflict of interest makes it impossible to believe that either the US or Turkey is sincere in ending the 22-year-old conflict against the Kurdish people."

"The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a fight that has left some 37,000 dead.

The group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. It declared a unilateral cease-fire which came into effect on Oct. 1 following a surge of violence that left more than a dozen soldiers and policemen dead and injured tourists over a period of a few weeks. But Turkey has ignored the truce and has vowed to fight on until all rebels surrenders or are killed."

"My reason tells me that I shouldn't be surprised, shocked, stunned, or otherwise flabbergasted, that the mainstream media has not noticed the obvious evidence of the connections between Joseph Ralston, Lockheed Martin, the ATC, The Cohen Group, the American administration, the defense industry and the continuation of the war against the Kurdish people.

Another part of my reason tells me that I should be outraged that something so obvious is not reported by "professionals."

Yeah, outraged . . . that's the word.

By the way, Old Joe Ralston will be in Turkey on 11 October to coordinate the F-35 . . . uh, sorry, to coordinate the PKK. He'll be joined by all the usual suspects."